Category: Fear

Jesus Is The Safety Net

Posted on by Michael Wine

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die. John 11:25

Living this life is like walking a tightrope. There is a greater margin of error in living life than walking a tightrope, but the result of crossing over that margin is the same: death.

One misplaced step can land you in front of a bus on the road. One wrong placement of the foot can put you off balance on the high wire. A tightrope walker is really just living a life with very narrow walls for as long as he is on the rope. He is only allowed one thing, to walk across the rope or he dies.

But the man on the hire wire has a safety net (usually). If he falls, he will not actually die if he is safely caught by the net. He is thereby freed to live on the wire with confidence and boldness, not in fear. He has the mental strength he needs to walk across the wire. To live his life.

I would like to suggest that the one who believes in Jesus is free to live life similar to the tightrope walker. Even if they die, they will live again with Jesus. They will rise again as He did. Jesus is, in a way, the Christian’s safety net. He allows us to be bold, to really live our lives and take risks to make a difference for His glory.

I feel sorry for those who are trying to live this life without the safety net of Christ beneath them. What are they trusting in? Some trust in other gods who are not real. These wind blown nets are nothing but spider webs and clothes lines. They will not hold the weight of human sin.

Some have no net at all. They only have the rope under their feet. They trust only in the rope, this physical world, the life that we have to live. They are sure of themselves too. They trust in their ability to walk the narrow path alone.

But what happens when this world itself begins to unravel? When the weight of humanity begins to slowly break the strands holding the rope together? I would rather be the one trusting in a spider web. At least I would not be filled with panic as I watch the snap, snap, snap of the rope under my feet; the only thing between me and a long fall to my death.

But better still it is to trust in the real God, in Jesus Christ who came to this earth, lived righteously in God’s eyes, and died for sinners, bearing the wrath of God. He was buried in the ground for three days, and then He rose again in glorious victory over sin and death. And He lives in heaven now, watching all who trust in Him. He will surely catch us in our last moments, and bring us to Himself to live eternally.

Fear and Faith

Posted on by Michael Wine

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 1:7

What is fear without belief? If you don’t believe a dangerous lion is outside your door, you will not fear it.

On the other hand, if you fear something or someone, you believe there is something dangerous about that thing or person.

If you believe God is dangerous, if you are afraid, then you believe He is real.

And what is wiser than 1) believing God is real and 2) being afraid of an almighty God who also hates sin? Especially since that is the reality.

It is the beginning, because it is where you start. You start with fear because fear is a kind of faith. Then, from faith, you move ‘further up and further in.’ You get to know this God more deeply; His love, mercy, compassion, patience.

And the fear begins to fade as you are forgiven, cleansed, and welcomed into God’s family.

Afraid to be Afraid

Posted on by Michael Wine

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? … In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? Psalm 56:3-4,10-11

I don’t like being afraid. Being afraid makes me feel weak, incapable, and inferior.

As a young boy, there is a healthy pressure show no fear. If you show fear, you can be made fun of, laughed at, and tortured. It is a weakness others can exploit.

So, young men grow skilled at pretending to not be afraid. We can push it down, hide it, and not admit to it. We are rewarded when we successfully lie about our fear, when we pretend to not be afraid. It’s like the whole world is saying to us, “Yeah… you can stick around, but only if you…you know, try to be someone you’re not.”

Over time, our confidence grows, so that when we are afraid, we can use our past experiences with fear to calm down. We know that we have man-handled fear before, and we can do it again. It works for a number of years.

But the small fears of childhood do not last forever. The easy fears we can suppress as children turn into sky-scraper-high monsters of fear when we become adults, get married, have children, struggle with finances, and live through global pandemics or wars.

That is when our training from our youth fails us. All of our life we have come to believe a lie that we are capable of handling our fear. We think that we can trust ourselves to not give way in the face of fear. When we come to realize this is false, that we do crumble in the face of real fear, it is mind-breaking. Our carefully constructed image of who we are cracks and crumbles.

I’m slowly learning, though, that this crumbling of self-confidence is a gift. It forces me, like old King David (who wrote the verses at the beginning), to run to God with my fear. When I realize that I can’t handle the dangers of this world when they surround me, like thousands of masked riders on dark horses, I know that there is One who can.

I can go to God in a second, without even a word. My soul can fly to him in a moment and I can whisper my childlike, weak, helpless prayer – “Help.”

And in those moments, I have found that there is, shockingly and wonderfully, always help for me. And it comes in the form of words, sounding in my mind. The words are not special new messages from God specifically tailored to my current situation. It’s more simple and more profound.

The words are recordings of Bible verses that I memorized as a child.

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. Psalm 56:3

The LORD is my shepherd I shall not want. …Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:1,4

Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

When I run to God in those moments, He answers back with words that have been written for thousands of years. When I fly to him in fear, His words fly to me in love. His promises comfort me and provide real strength. And God’s strength is better that the feigned strength of a boy pretending to be fearless because he is afraid to be afraid.

Trusting God is the real answer to fear because it admits that we are really afraid. When fear is pushed down, it lives on in the deep recesses our our soul. It grows and evolves into other things.

But admitting the fear is real is only half of the solution. The second and most important part is who we trust with our fear. If we trust our now acknowledged fear to another person, institution, or whatever, we will be disappointed. And deep down, we all know that those things cannot be trusted with our deepest fears. Why? Because they are all made up of people. And people are like me, afraid and helpless.

There is really only One who can be trusted with our fear, because He is the only One who is trustworthy. When we admit we are afraid, and then trust God with that fear, we can have real peace. This peace does not come from knowing the solution to the fear, or from solving the real life problem we are facing. This peace is much like the relief you feel when you take that first explosive breath after you’ve been holding it for a minute or so.

The peace comes from getting rid of something, from the weight lifting as someone stronger than you takes it off of your back.

Fear is starting to become a real friend, though the kind I don’t often want to see, for it drives me back to God, who loves taking the weight of fear from me though His precious promises.